MANILA – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized a total of PHP3.09 billion worth of smuggled goods, including illegal drugs and cigarettes, this month.
Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, in a news release Monday, said the amount was seized in operations from October 1 to October 14, which includes PhP 2.3 billion worth of various commodities, PhP 22.3 million worth of cigarettes, and a PhP 402 million vessel carrying smuggled petroleum products.
Also included in the amount are PhP 42.16 million worth of illegal drugs intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and PhP 323 million worth of smuggled rice.
“In the face of increasingly complex threats, we must stand as a united front. With each of us having diverse expertise in the field of intelligence, we are afforded the opportunity to achieve far more collectively than any agency could accomplish alone,” he said during the BOC’s Inter-Agency Intelligence Summit held in Batangas on October 18, which was attended by participants from three regions – Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Bicol.
Since the start of this year, Rubio said the BOC has mounted a total of 1, 414 operations which netted PhP 72.091 billion worth of smuggled goods, surpassing its accomplishments last year which amounted to PhP 43.29 billion.
He said the accomplishments recorded so far this year is “a record-breaking feat in the history” of the BOC.
“This proves that our combined efforts are not only effective but essential in combatting smuggling and other illicit activities,” Rubio added. (PNA)